JAS Forwarding (USA) Inc. VP Compliance Laurie Arnold (Secretary NCBFAA) and Leah Ellis, Compliance Manager (NCBFAA Legislative Chair) attended the NCBFAA annual conference in Ft Lauderdale in April.

The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America (NCBFAA) headquartered in Washington, DC metro area, represents many companies in international trade, including the nations’ leading freight forwarders, customs brokers, ocean transportation intermediaries (OTIs), NVOCCs and air cargo agents.  NCBFAA is at the forefront of trade related topics in Washington DC and around the United States.  The NCBFAA members handle 97% of the entries for goods imported into the United States.  Further, members operating as OTIs are involved with approximately 80-85% of all exports from the United States.

Laurie Arnold has served as the Treasurer for the NCBFAA and was recently elected as the new Secretary of the NCBFAA.  Seen on the far left in this photo, Laurie is contributing on a panel discussing “Liquidated damages, penalties, and other CBP fan mail.”  Also on the panel was US Customs FP&F Director Lisa Santana Fox.  She discussed the new Customs portal for mitigation request submissions.  Laurie helped facilitate constructive discussion with the membership on the process and timelines of mitigation requests.

Leah Ellis serves as the NCBFAA Legislative Committee Chair.  In this capacity, Leah works closely with the legislative committee advisor for the NCBFAA.  The NCBFAA Legislative Committee works with legislators in Washington to advance positions of the trade community.  Seen on the left in this photo, Leah was discussing Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) bill HR4986 and the end China de minimis bill HR7979.  The panel also discussed and answered questions pertaining to the passing and signing of the Customs Business Fairness Act.

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